Taking a chance

I graduated from Washington State with a degree in Communication - with an emphasis in broadcast news. I minored in Spanish but who really cares about minors anyway? My goal in life was to be a very successful anchor woman for network news. My mom has countless home videos of Emily/I, JoAnna/Emily/I doing the news, filming household product commercials and interviewing each other. It would usually be me as a radio host interviewing Emily as a christian singer...namely Amy Grant. Or she would interview me as Sandi Patty - also a christian singer. Remember, my parents would not allow us to listen to non-christian music until we were in Jr. High. Actually - my mom wanted me to make a correction about that. She said it was all we listened to and we didn't know any different but let me tell you folks...when my classmates were listening to Pump up the Jam by Technotronic, Whitney, Boyz to Men, Mariah, Paula Abdul and when a boy by the name of Kevin Songer requested a song for me on 92.9 in the 6th grade, I KNEW.

Throughout my schooling, I would say I was fairly comfortable speaking in front of people. Totally shy, absolutely. But - put me in front of the class/student body for a book report, election speech, lilac princess speech, miss Spokane pageant's final question, senior project and I was good. I always loved making speeches because I could control one thing - they would be better and more interesting than everyone else's.

One time in college we had to do a team 'how to' speech. My DDD sister and bestie Claire and I did one on how to brush your teeth. This speech was timed and you failed if you went under or over. It had to be within 5 seconds of a minute. So back to this speech - Claire was the demonstrator and I explained this 'how to'. Claire had finished brushing her teeth and had spit out the toothpaste/water into a cup...OH CRAP, our teacher held up the 10 second signal. We were supposed to be done after Claire had spit and rinsed so, being the quick thinker I am - and because I always love to make things interesting and I DIDN'T WANT an F, I did what anyone would do...

I DRANK HER SPIT CUP! Totally threw it back like we were taking shots of Monarch at Pikes. I am pretty sure I said something to the effect of, "And if you are not sure you got your mouth 100% clean, you can always drink your spit". It was fantastic. The class erupted in OHHHHs but the kicker was Claire's face. Considering it was very impromptu, she had no idea what I was going to do. She was horrified. I had just drank her spit cup. Hey...we got an A!

Okay so that went totally off topic...sorry.

After college I got an internship with KHQ in Spokane. I was the nighttime assignment editor. My job was to sit at the desk, monitor my computer/our news room phone/fax and the police scanner to catch wind of breaking news. How sad is it that all I would hope for between the hours of 5 and midnight was a burglary, stabbing, shooting or car accident. HORRIBLE, I know. If one of those things would happen, I would figure out which reporter was where and send them on their way. Really exciting. Ps: Can I just tell you how many domestic violence calls I would hear over the scanner? We have some crazzzzzzieess with a captiol C living here.

Fantastic opportunity. They were even considering putting me on air to report minor happenings. At the end of the day my job was a night job. Let's face it, news never sleeps and I was getting married that summer. Most important to me was spending time with my new husband and being a great mom to my kids. This didn't mean I didn't want to work, I just knew news was not going to be my path to success.

I then got a job at People to People - my professional home for 4 years. I started at the bottom and when I say bottom, I mean it. I worked in the call center selling our Citizen Ambassador Programs to professionals. Doctors, Lawyers, Nurses...you get it. While I knew it was not glamorous and most certainly nothing to brag about (remember, I was a college educated stud whose first job would make her 60k...or so I thought!) I worked hard. I wanted people to see my passion, my work ethic and my drive.

6 months into my People to People career, 1 1/2 years after I graduated from WSU, someone decided to take a chance and give me an opportunity. Kelly Dengel hired me, took me away from the call center, and put me on her recruitment team. I was responsible for recruiting teacher leaders to lead groups of students on week long educational "field trips" to Washington DC. I would interview them, train them and hold their hand through the process. There were times I would have to have tough conversations with leaders, work like crazy to recruit a last minute replacement or even travel myself to fill a void but all in all, it was fantastic. It was my first introduction to HR, while I didn't know it then and boy, I loved it!

Downstairs and around the corner at P2P, unbeknownst to me there was a woman by the name of Danielle Stoddard who was getting ready to take a HUGH chance. My second lucky break.

Danielle was the HR Generalist/Sr. Recruiter for the organization. Not only had she graduated with a degree in HR but she had been working in HR since then. She is tremendously talented, someone who is extremely professional, was and is well respected in the field and has it all together. She is perfect at what she does and it was proven when she was promoted to HR Manager about 1 year into my role on the recruitment team. Clearly that move left a hole in HR. They needed someone to come in and recruit, interview, hire, handle benefits, new hire orientation, associate rewards/associate relations....list goes on and on. Well, how CRAZYYYYY....she flippin' thought of me. ME! She called me up and told me about a new job opening in her dept. She sent me the job description and it took me all but 5 minutes to realize what a gift I was being given. I didn't even have to interview for the job.

I took the job and spent the next 4 months soaking up every last thing I could from her. She taught me how to interview, what questions to ask, how to handle myself on the phone, what I could and could not say. She was my professional teacher in every sense of the word...until she was involved in a reduction of force that left me stranded, deer in headlights, scared for my life, 100% ALONE. It was then I could choose to sink or swim.

Her belief in me and encouragement the 4 months previous was the reason I chose to swim. So I did. I handled all things HR with the help of some pretty fantastic co-workers and learned more than I could have ever imagined.

This brings me to today. After being an Volunteer Workforce Recruiter, HR Generalist and Division Recruiter, I am now an HR Manager and know I am not finished. I still have a lot to learn but the sky is really the limit for me.

Never in my life would I have said, you know what, I am going to grow up and be an HR professional. Never. I didn't even know what HR was when I graduated from college. It is actually funny if you think about the similarities between HR and the news.

Recruiting

Interviewing

Investigating

Reporting

Speaking to large organizations or small groups of employees/executives

I get to do those things everyday! I get to do those things thanks to Kelly and Danielle. I may not be doing them for everyone in Spokane to see but I do get to make an impact in people's lives. There is not a better feeling in the world then calling a candidate and offering them their dream job or calling someone into an office to deliver a great review or give them a raise. Nothing makes me happier than revamping someone's resume to make them marketable or giving them feedback after a good or really bad interview. I love hearing a manager tell me how wonderful my last hire has been and how she is working out beautifully (I am certainly not kidding myself, that doesn't happen every time). Presenting policy or benefit information is thrilling. I really love everything about what I do. Even the bad. I love it all.

So to Kelly and Danielle: Thank you. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for teaching me. I would not be here without you.

Have been in a position to take a chance on someone?

Has someone taken a chance on you? Have you said thank you?

I want to be a Kelly Dengel and Danielle Stoddard to someone. I want to be someone who takes a chance on people. Someone who can see potential in someone who has yet to develop professionally. Someone who invests in someone to help make them better. I can't wait.

Because of these two ladies I know I am using the gifts and talents God has blessed me with to bring glory to Him. This is what these ladies did for me and for that, I am eternally grateful.